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The most remarked upon moment of Justin Trudeau’s 2010 encounter with Quebec’s Les francs-tireurs — in as much as it is was remarked upon at all — was not his now famous verbal pratfall, but his very literal pratfall.

After telling his interviewer that Canada was being poorly-served because it was dominated by Albertans in power, Trudeau discussed a trick he had learned where he can fall down the stairs without so much as a scratch or a bruise.

Then he obligingly fell down the stairs for the cameras.

It’s not often you get this kind of twofer from a man now being discussed as a future prime minister, a verbal misstep followed by a party trick in which the misstep is deliberate.

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After tumbling down the stairs, Trudeau got up, brushed himself off and laughed.

Friday in Vancouver, he brushed himself off and apologized.

The lack of damage to his Liberal leadership bid will be the same as the lack of damage done by his (quite amusing) physical tumble.

The Liberal brand in this country, however, bruises.

If ill-timed, divisive, stupid or downright wrong comments killed political aspirations in this country, the House of Commons would be dominated by empty seats.

But we are about to learn a couple of things about the MP from Papineau and the third-place Liberal party he seeks to lead.

He will be pummeled with Conservative jabs potentially far more damaging than the haymakers he absorbed in the ring from Conservative Patrick Brazeau.

We’re going to find out how tough he is in the months leading to the April leadership vote, and then heading into the 2015 election campaign.

We are about to learn how much more is out there being mined on Trudeau, a man who has never been media-shy, a man who has long drawn cameras and tape recorders everywhere he goes.

We will learn, quickly, if he has the political savvy to keep his thoughts and mouth in the same gear going forward.

And we are about to learn whether the Liberal party wants a serious leadership race, or Justin Trudeau and a bunch of bodies standing beside him for the group pictures at the debates.

If someone actually wanted to beat the chosen one, he or she would be expected to take advantage of this stumble, and mix it up a bit early, throwing a few internecine jabs him or herself.

But there is an obvious reticence.

“He is only one person,’’ leadership candidate Martha Hall Findlay said of Trudeau. “He does not speak for Liberals. Indeed, the Liberal party is in the midst of a process to find somebody who will.’’

Marc Garneau, the Montreal MP who is expected to announce his candidacy this week, would say only he and Liberals understand that the centre of Canadian gravity has shifted.

He did call similar anti-Alberta remarks by David McGuinty a day before the Trudeau comments surfaced “unacceptable,’’ showcasing the Liberal dictum that the Ottawa South MP is expendable, Trudeau untouchable.

Joyce Murray, a Vancouver MP, is expected to announce her candidacy Monday and we’ll see what she thinks of Trudeau’s views on Quebec leaders versus Alberta leaders.

We could see confirmation that this is a race in which to be seen, not a race in which you are allowed to do any damage to the party’s meal ticket.

Instead of a race, we could be treated to a collective effort to keep the man propped up on the pedestal.

Someone senior in the Liberal party should firmly and loudly repudiate Trudeau in the way everyone from interim leader Bob Rae on down repudiated McGuinty.

Trudeau will survive that, just as Stephen Harper survived his public support his Reform party ads in 1997 that put a slash through the images of Quebec leaders Jean Chrétien, Jean Charest Gilles Duceppe and Lucien Bouchard.

Trudeau would survive criticism just as Harper survived his 2000 signature on the Alberta firewall letter, his 2002 determination that there was a “culture of defeat” in Atlantic Canada, just as Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird survived his overheard 2009 belief that Toronto should just “f—k off.’’

Regional frustrations have boiled over on the Canadian political scene since there have been regions.

If Trudeau stumbles, he should be called to account from within his own ranks.

It’s the only way to test the chosen one.

The problem, of course, is that if Trudeau stumbles and breaks between now and April, there is no one there to pick up the pieces.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca

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